Bait and Switch
by SlayerWitchCarpenter
Summary: Just after the events of Superstar, Willow, Buffy and Xander go through some of their own changes. Someone's out for revenge, and thinks of the perfect way to do it. Weaken the ranks. Switch their souls.
1. Chapter 1

Smoke filled the room, swirling around the 3 bodies in the room. Candles in hand, the 3 robed figures circle a cauldron, from where the smoke is coming from. They come to a stop, equal distances from the cauldron, and slowly kneel. They place the candles down in front of them, creating the corners of the salt triangle drawn on the floor around the cauldron. Placing their hands on their robed knees, they start chanting.

"Audite nos now, Gods of all, Take illa 3, Make lemma fall, Swap suum souls, Hear nostrum dico. Trucido. Veneficus. Vir."

A swift wind blows through the place and the candles go out.

"They will be vulnerable. We can attack."

* * *

In Buffy and Willow's dorm room, Buffy laid asleep in her bed, tossing and turning. Across the campus in Tara's room, Willow was doing the same, as was Xander in the basement of his parents house.

As all of Sunnydale slept, 3 distinct mists floated above. One yellow, one red, one blue. Where they rose from and where they floated to were different locations, but each in pattern. Where one rose, another landed. The yellow to the red, the red to the blue, the blue to the yellow. Unseen by anyone, the mists descended into the bodies of the three, and in the same instance, they woke.

"Holy frigoly!" Willow gasped, sitting bolt upright in the darkness, gasping heavily. Her chest felt tight and her head felt like it was going to fall off and roll around the floor if she sat up any longer. She dropped back onto the pillow, frowning slightly at the texture of the case, sure it had been different when she went to bed.

"Calm it Rosenberg, you're imagining things." She told herself, turning onto her left side, catching a glimpse of blondeish hair in the moonlight. Moving ever so slightly, she draped her arm across the figure in bed, pulling her close, causing the woman to moan slightly when pulled into a spooning position.

_Wait a minute. Since when was I taller than Tara? _

"Tara?" She asked the women who was slowly waking up.

"Tara? Who's Tara, Xander?" A shockingly familiar voice asked her back, as the woman, Anya, sat up and reached for the light switch. As light bathed the room, Willow sucked in a breath. This was Xander's basement. She looked at Anya. This was Xander's girlfriend. She looked at the mirror at the foot of the bed. This was Xander's **body**.

* * *

Buffy gasped awake in a cold sweat, flinging the covers off her body and swung her feet round to the side of the bed. Feeling like she was going to hurl, she dove for where the trashcan should be, but collided heavily with a wall instead.

_There's no wall here. What the frilly heck is going on? 'Frilly heck'? When do I say 'Frilly heck'? God my head hurts. Who installed a wall without telling me?_

Buffy fumbled around the dark room, looking for the light switch or a trashcan, she didn't care which. Just, anything.

_Where the hell am I?_

Just as she reached what she thought was the light switch, warm arms encircled her waist and held her close to this other person's body.

"Whatcha doing, sweetie?" The distinctly female voice asked, awfully close to her ear.

_Sweetie? What's going on, where am—_

"Willow?" The woman asked again, pulling Buffy round to face her. In the darkness, Buffy still couldn't figure out where she was and why some girl was calling her sweetie, but when her voice ran through her mind, Buffy stopped dead.

"Willow?" Buffy asked, frowning. The woman reached forward and clicked on the light behind Buffy's head, and Buffy got her first look at the woman in front of her.

"Tara?" Buffy asked. What was going on? Why was she with Tara? She'd seen her before, she helped out with the Faith situation a few weeks before, and she was with them during the Johnathon situation last week. But she was with Willow.

"W-Willow? Sweetie? A-Are you o-okay?" Tara asked, and Buffy frowned once again.

"Why do you keep calling me Willow, I'm—" And Buffy caught the sound of her vocal cords and the reflection of herself in the floor-length mirror on the other side of the room. "Willow."

* * *

Xander all but fell out of the single bed as she rolled over to reach for Anya. His throat was dry and he could feel a headache coming on. Nothing like the syphilis from Thanksgiving, but something somewhere in that region.

He pushed himself off the floor with surprising ease, glancing around the barely lit, empty room. It didn't look like his room, and he could just about make out the outline of a lamp. He fumbled for the cord, pulling down on the cord and completely ripping the cord out of the lamp.

"What the heck?" Xander looked down at his hands, squinting in the darkness. Where his hands always so small? Xander stumbled over to the wall on the opposite side of the room, where he found the door. And the door handle. Weirdly high door handle. When he could make out the light switch, he gently clicked it on. And that's when he got a real look at his arm. Small, female arm. In Buffy and Willow's dorm room.

Quickly, with minimal panic, at least that's what he'll tell everyone, Xander dived over to where he knew the mirror was, and got a good look at himself. Or, rather, herself.

* * *

"Xander? Are you feeling okay? Are you ill?" Anya asked, reaching a hand out and touching Willow's forehead. Or Xander's forehead. Goddess this was confusing. She gently shook her head, still looking into the mirror at her face. Her manly, unshaven face.

"…I'm not ill…" She distractedly replied, not once taking her eyes off her reflection.

"Oh, good! Then we can have orgasms!" Anya all but bounced onto Willow, who yelped in surprise and moved back up the bed with great speed, managing to hit her head on the headboard as she tried to disentangle herself from Anya. "What's wrong? I thought you liked morning orgasms? You are sick, you lied!"

"I-I'm not sick. I'm Willow."

* * *

"W-Willow? Are you feeling okay? Are you ill?" Tara asked, reaching her hand out to take Buffy's hand in her own, gently rubbing her thumb over the back of Buffy's hand. However, as Buffy saw it, it was Willow's body. And Tara.

_Huh, that's weird. They must have some tight friendship here._

"…I'm not ill…" Buffy replied, looking up at Tara. The other blonde smiled, and led Buffy over to the bed, where they both sat down.

"Then what's wrong?" Tara asked, still holding Buffy's hand, still rubbing circles into the back of her hand. "You're warm."

"I'm Buffy."

* * *

Xander reeled backwards, colliding with Buffy's bed, tumbling back onto it, gulping loudly.

"Xander. You're just not felling okay. You're ill." He tried to reason with himself, feeling his own face as his reflection stared back at him.

"…I'm not ill…" Xander breathed, looking down at his body, Buffy's body, a body he shouldn't be in, and gulped again, looking back into the mirror. "I'm not Buffy." He told his reflection.

"I'm Xander."

* * *

**A/N: Translation: Hear us now, Gods of all, Take these 3, Make them fall, Swap their souls, Hear our call. Slayer. Witch. Man.**

**I know, I know. "Finish your other storied first!" But I work best at 1am and I write what comes to mind. And there are not enough Bodyswapping fics out there.**

**As always, tell me what you think, any tips or ideas are welcome. Thanks for reading.**

**SWC**


	2. Chapter 2

"What?" Anya asked, sitting up on the bed, cocking her head to one side as she studied the body in front of her.

"I'm Willow." Willow answered for a second time, rubbing the back of her –his?- head, where it hit the headboard.

"Don't be ridiculous. Look at you. All manly and, manly." Anya waved in her direction, and Willow pulled her legs out from under Anya and to the side of the bed, trying to get out of bed. "Xander."

"Anya, please, I'm Willow. I don't know how to prove it but I am." Willow argued back, pulling herself into a standing position. "Whoa, tall."

"Look, say you are Willow," Anya started, following Willow out of the bed, watching closely for any sign that it was a joke. "Then where is Xander?" Willow spun around to face Anya, holding a cabinet to make sure she didn't fall in her new body.

"Xander! He's- he's gotta be in my body. Oh gross _he's_ in _me_." Willow grimaced, looking around the room for wherever Xander stores his clothes.

"Yes, that is gross. I agree. What are you doing?" Anya asked, walking up to Willow, stopping her in her tracks.

"We have to find him. Tara will be so confused." Willow stressed. "Where does Xander keep his clothes?"

"In that drawer." Anya pointed to the top drawer of the cabinet Willow used to lean against. "Wait, Tara? You mentioned that name before."

"Err, yes. Just, come on. Get dressed."

* * *

"B-Buffy?" Tara asked, backing up further into the room, wrapping her arms around herself. This is not how she wanted to expose her and Willow's relationship. On that note, where was Willow?

"Let's just calm down." Buffy said, mostly to herself, walking past Tara to get to the mirror, grabbing the sides of it and staring into her reflection. "I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"

"W-Willow could b-be in your b-body…" Tara stuttered, facing Buffy. Two body swapping incidents in so little time.

"Oh god!" Buffy gripped one side of the mirror tighter. "I don't have slayer strength. God, if Willow has it…" Buffy started to pace around the room.

"We could call? Y-Your dorm." Tara suggested, pointing towards the phone.

"You have our number?" Buffy asked, bounding over to the phone, starting to dial. Tara didn't answer her as Buffy put the phone to her ear. "C'mon Wills…"

* * *

"Xander. I'm Xander. I'm Xander, but I'm also the Slayer. In Buffy's body. Oh god, is Buffy in my body?" Xander paced the room in his new female body. "This feels so weird, so wrong. Is this what Faith felt like?" Xander's pacing was interrupted by the shrill ringing of the dorm phone on Willow's desk. "You can do this, you're Buffy." He psyched himself up as he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Xander asked.

"_Willow?_" Willow's voice came through on the phone.

"Will, you're meant to ask for other people, not yourself."

"_Wait. You're not Will?_"

"No. Wait, you're not Will?"

"_No, I'm Buffy._"

"Oh god. Buffy, I'm Xander."

"_You're in my body? Get out._"

"Yes, it's that simple. Buff, if you're in Will and I'm in you, is Will in me?"

"_…_"

"Buff?"

"_There's a room number on Willow's desk, make your way here. Will's most likely to make her way here. Oh, and just put on a coat. Do _not_ undress my body._"

"Alright, I'm on my way." Xander hung up the phone, and searched for an address. He found a post-it note attached to Willow's laptop, with a dorm address and 'Tara' scribbled on it.

"Tara? Oh, the witch friend." He grabbed the post-it and one of Buffy's long coats and left the dorm.

* * *

"Why didn't we drive?" Anya complained for the 8th time since the two of them left the house. Willow sighed and beckoned for the ex-demon to keep up.

"Because I can't drive and I'm not sure you can either." Willow replied for the 8th time. "I already let you dress me, I'm not letting you kill me. You've shown me no valid licence."

"Xander can drive, and you're in his body." Anya pointed out as the two of them entered the campus.

"For the last time Anya, I, am, not, Xander." Willow sighed again, steering Anya in the direction of Tara's dorm room.

"I cannot wait for this to be over. Xander's much more agreeable than you." Anya crossed her arms as Willow pushed open a door and let Anya enter.

"Yes, but I think we know why." Willow moved ahead of Anya, finding Tara's dorm room and knocking on the door.

"Just because you're in Xander's body, don't think I won't hit you." Anya glared at Willow, who glared back.

"Just because you're Xander's girlfriend doesn't mean I won't hit back." Willow challenged.

* * *

"This is weird as hell." Buffy said, poking and prodding at her own body. "I mean, can you believe it? Two body swaps in 2 weeks?" Buffy shook her head, poking her body in the arm.

"Buffy, stop it." Xander batted away her hand. "That hurts you know. Willow has surprisingly bony fingers."

"It's just weird." Buffy huffed and sat down next to Xander on the bed.

"You keep saying." Xander sighed, putting his hand on Buffy's shoulder. "Oh and may have broken your lamp."

"What?!" Buffy turned to face him, about to say something else when there were 3 loud knocks on the door. Tara got up from the chair in the corner and moved over to the door while the other 2 watched. Before Tara could reach the door they could hear two distinct voices coming through.

_"Just because you're in Xander's body, don't think I won't hit you." _Anya.

_"Just because you're Xander's girlfriend doesn't mean I won't hit back." _Xander.

Buffy and Xander stood up and joined Tara at the door as she pulled it open.

"Tara!" Willow stepped forward and hugged the witch, who was surprised at the sudden hug.

"Xander!" Anya bounded into the room and hugged Willow's body, who squirmed free of her grasp.

"Get out of my body, Xander!" Willow pointed at her own body, glaring, with the other arm resting on Tara.

"Um, hi." Xander waved at them from Buffy's body. "I'm Xander." Willow and Anya took a step back from Willow's body, confused, before Anya turned on Buffy's body and hugged it instead.

"Xander!" Anya smiled. "Willow has been rude to me all morning."

"Uh huh, who straddled who, _Anya_?" Willow crossed her arms, frowning.

"It's 'whom'. 'Who straddled _whom_'."

"Okay, let's stop this right here." Xander interrupted, clearing his throat. "We need to figure out what happened."

"We need to get to Giles." Buffy agreed, glancing between everyone in the room.

"I hope Giles is still Giles." Willow half joked.


	3. Chapter 3

12:00 – Giles' house

"Giles!" Buffy, who to everyone else looked like Willow, pushed the ex-librarians door open and stormed into his house, startling the man, who nearly dropped his tea. He pushed himself off the sofa and turned to face the doorway of his house. To him, Anya and Tara, Willow was storming up to him, Buffy was nervously following Willow, and Xander was struggling to even walk properly.

"Willow?" Giles asked, pulling himself out of the blankness that had taken over his mind.

"Will- No. Buffy." Buffy pointed to herself, sighing. "Willow." She pointed at Xander's body. "Xander." She pointed at her own body.

"Um…" Giles started, putting his tea cup down on the table.

"Bloody hell, whole gang's here." Spike entered the room with his own cup, undoubtedly full of blood.

"Shut up Spike." Buffy turned her head to face him, glaring.

"Alright Red. Give a man a break. Her time of the month, or somethin'?" He nudged Xander. No-one aid a word as they watched what just happened. If Spike had known it was Willow he just nudged, he would have never uttered those words. But now everyone just watched. "What?" Willow punched Spike in the arm as hard as she could, which, being Xander, was harder than she'd expected. "Ow, you bloody fool! What was that for?"

"Spike, shut up before you say something you regret to" Buffy held up her hands to make quotation marks. "'me', and Xander knocks your block off." Spike looked around the room utterly confused.

"Someone tell me why Red's more threatening than I remember and why Buffy's pacing." Spike put down his mug and waited for answers. It was Giles that eventually piped up.

"From what I gather, Buffy, Willow and Xander have had their souls put into each other's bodies."

"Blimey. So you—" He raised his eyebrow and looked at Xander.

"Are Willow." Willow answered, glaring.

"Right-o. Well, what do know?"

"Nothing." Buffy answered, turning back to Giles. "We have nothing. We woke up where the real owner of the body went to bed." Buffy crossed her arms.

"I woke up in Xander's basement." Willow told Giles, also crossing her arms.

"Yeah. I went to bed in my own bed with Anya, and woke up in Buffy's dorm completely alone." Xander chimed in, stopping his pacing and perching himself on Giles' desk.

"Completely alone? Buffy, where did you wake up?" Giles turned to his Slayer.

"In—" Buffy started.

"She was where I went to sleep. Does it matter where?" Willow interrupted, stepping forward. Spike watched as the blonde in the doorway shuffled slightly at Willow's outburst. He racked his brain for her name.

_Tara, that was is. Interesting._

"Well no, I suppose not. I suggest we research this. All of us working on this should speed things up. First look for cultist practices. This strikes me as a ritual. For what, we'll find out. Spike. Put on some tea. We're going to need it." Giles ordered.

* * *

19:00 – Giles' house

"Alright, this is useless." Xander sighed and threw a book to the table. Which knocked 5 other books off the table. And dented the table.

"Please be careful of your new abilities, Xander." Giles sighed as he repeated himself for the seventh time. The first, second and fifth times were for Buffy, who didn't seem to understand that reading the Latin in the book and combining it with Willow's power was _not_ a good idea. So 2 burnt books and one puddle-that-used-to-be-a-book later, Buffy was carefully not reading out loud anymore.

"He's right." Buffy sighed, closing her own book. "Research is getting us nowhere."

"We're just not researching the right section. If we expand our research and keep going we could easily research the right topic." Willow looked up from her pile of book to 7 heads facing her with the same expression on them. "What?"

"I never expected to hear those words come out of Xander's mouth." Giles wiped his glasses after putting his book down. "But I agree. It's been 7 hours and we have nothing. I suggest we try again tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? So we just have to stay in someone else's body for another day?" Xander asked, looking down at Buffy's pyjama-clad body.

"Eye's up!" Buffy hit Xander's chin, pushing his head up. "No looking."

"Yes well, while there will be issues, I suggest you go to your normal place of rest and come back here tomorrow." Giles stood up off his couch, and began putting books back into the bookshelf. "We'll look at a different subject matter in the morning. Go on, get some rest. We all need it."

* * *

20:00 – Xander's basement

"So, what? You're expecting me to sleep with Buffy? I already slept with Willow this morning." Anya cocked her head to the side, and Xander stumbled forward.

"Okay, we need to work on your phrasing. And it's still me, Anya. I'm still Xander. Just, more compact and feminine. And Buffy." Xander sat down on his half of the bed, patting the other side and coaxing Anya to sit opposite him. "We're going to sort this out, Ahn. Promise. I know it sounds weird coming from this mouth, but I love you."

"I love you too, Xander. But as much as I love you, I love your body. And I want to back." Anya sat down, huffing.

"I want it back too. And we'll get it back tomorrow." Xander smiled gently at Anya, who laid back against the pillows. Xander laid down next to her, pulling the covers over the two of them, and moved to hug Anya.

"I'm not having lesbian sex with you, Xander."

"Only you could make that sentence sound normal."

* * *

20:10 - Tara's dorm

"Uh, how will this work? Shall I sleep on the couch?" Willow asked loudly so Tara could hear her in the bathroom, as she moved around the bed, placing some Sunnydale University issued men's pyjamas on Tara's bed. She was facing the bed when Tara walked back in, wearing her normal nightwear.

"If you want to." She said, glancing at her girlfriend's best friend's body with her girlfriend's soul inside of it. Thinking about it too much will cause a headache.

"Well I think..." Willow turned her attention from the large pyjamas to her girlfriend, turning round to the bed was behind her.

"Are you oka-" Tara started, stepping towards Willow, only to be cut off.

"I need to sit down." Willow announced, rather loudly, sitting down instantly.

"...Are you okay?" Tara asked again, stepping towards Willow.

"Uh huh. Yep. Fine. Finey McFine." Willow babbled, pulling the pyjamas towards her and holding them.

"Why are you sat do- Oh. _Oh_." Tara stepped back, flicking her eyes down to Willow's now pyjama filled lap.

"It's not my fault. It's Xander's fault!" Willow grumbled, looking down at her own lap. "Maybe I should go back to my dorm."

"I-I d-don't mind you s-staying here." Tara stuttered, and Willow shook her head.

"You're stuttering. You're uncomfortable. I'll, I'll go." Willow stood up, and sat back down immediately. "I'll come back in the morning. To walk you to Giles'." She stood up again, smiling weakly at Tara, and with several apologies, she made her way out of the dorm.

* * *

20:20 - Buffy and Willow's dorm

Buffy was sat on her bed in her own dorm looking at Willow's bed. She'd laid out 4 different types of pyjamas, and was wondering the best way to not invade her friend's privacy was when the door swung open and Willow stumbled in.

"Buffy!" Xander's voice rang out as Willow closed the door behind her. Buffy narrowed her eyes at her friend, whose entire posture was off.

"Willow. What's wrong?" She eyed Willow carefully, and when she got to the pyjamas clenched in her friend's hand held over her lap she snapped her eyes up. "Oh."

"Please don't laugh." Willow pleaded, pouting.

"I'm not laughing." Buffy held her hands up in surrender. "I am going to ask what it's like."

"What?! Buffy!" Willow glared at her friend, who was smiling mischievously at her from her own body.

"Alright, fine. Overstepped the mark." Buffy relented. Then, with a twinkle in her eye, looked back at up Willow. "Gunna tell me what triggered it?" Buffy smirked, and Willow sighed, walking over to her bed.

"No." She glanced at Buffy, and with a free hand picked up one pair of pyjamas. "These ones." She threw them to Buffy and moved the rest.

"Please." Buffy begged, smiling at her friend.

"Not going to work." Willow smiled back, sitting on her own bed.

"No-one can say no to the resolve face." Buffy smirked, shifting into the aforementioned face.

"You can't use my own face against me!" Willow glared at Buffy. "You, you…. Fine, you win." Willow sighed, shaking her head.

"Ohh, yay! Tell me your worst secrets Miss, or should I say Mr Rosenberg." Buffy laughed.

"Don't ever call me Mr Rosenberg again." Willow deadpanned, looking Buffy in the eye. On the inside, she was psyching herself up for the hardest thing she was ever going to have to do. Tell the truth. Spill the beans. Let the cat out of the bag.

_Ohh, a cat. Tara mentioned she liked cats. Maybe we should get a cat. Or get back on topic, Rosenberg!_

"Alright, fine. Now. Tell me. What made it happen?" Buffy leant forward like she was about to be told the most interesting news ever released.

"Tara."


End file.
